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The Top Ten Theories about the Lost City of Atlantis

In class, we talked about different ideas of what the Lost City of Atlantis is or was, and also what became of it and how it became of it. Atlantis was an idea that was first written down over two thousand years ago by the Greek philosopher Plato. Scholars have been at it for years arguing whether or not this place even exists. In class, however, we learned that most likely the place Plato talked about was more of a logical idea of a perfect civilization.

10. Accounts of Atlantis Were Just a Story

The tenth top theory is the idea that the story Plato wrote was just for entertainment. Scientists also say he wrote it also to warn people about turning their backs on the gods. The scientists use the reference of Platos account on Atlantis, when he talks about how the Greek God Posideon was given the islands of Atlantis. I find this theory to be one of the few that are very plausible because of the culture of ancient Greece. People in these times were very paranoid about the wrath of the gods, and I believe that Plato just wrote this to inspire or scare people into keeping their faith with the ancient greek gods.

9. Atlantis was fictional, however the world wide deluge is fact

This theory takes in account and comments on Platos statements on the almost the entire world being destroyed, except for a small population of people. They believe that there was a massive flood that devastated the earth, and people began to migrate and spread out from this “Atlantis” location. Plato stated that this event happened thousands of years before his time, which would have put it around the time of the ending of the Ice Age. I believe that this is a huge part of the theory that makes it somewhat credible.

8. Atlantis was a continent that was sunken by natural disasters

We actually talked about this theory in class. Ignatius Donnelly wrote a book that talked about what happened to this ancient technological marvel of a city, that suddenly sunk from massive flooding. He also assumed that the Atlantic Ocean was 100 feet or less deep. However today, we have discovered that there are depths reaching almost 5 miles deep.

7. Plato referred to an Ancient Greek City that was wiped out by volcanic explosion

Around 1600BC there was a giant volcanic explosion that was in the middle of many cities, including coastal cities. Scientists believe that Plato was referring to the city in an idealistic manner. I look at this as possible because Plato referrs to the god’s wrath which was what sunk/destroyed Atlantis, and perhaps this is what he was talking about.

The rest of the theories are pretty extreme, and I’ll write about #1 because I find it to be the one that I’ve never really heard of.

1. Atlantis is in the Bahamas

Apparently many believe that Atlantis was in the Bahamas. Here, they believe that many of the coastline has “street” like pathways, and roads that appear to be man made. However, scientists have evaluated these and concluded that they’re just natural formations.

Personally, I only believe in #10, because I’m a logical person and to me that was the most logical. Plato was a philosopher, and I believe he was just trying to explain the idea behind the perfect civilization.

2 thoughts on “The Top Ten Theories about the Lost City of Atlantis”

I am really interested in the lost island of Atlantis. I think it is really interesting that you decided to write your blog post on the theories of Atlantis. Although many of the theories seem very fake and not reliable, there are a few that could be true. I never would have thought that Plato wrote this story just for the entertainment of people. I do believe it though. I concur that the theory, accounts of Atlantis were just a story, is one of the few that is plausible, and I find it very interesting that Plato did this to inspire or scare people into keeping their faith in the ancient Greek gods. It’s a very interesting way to scare people. I also did not know that Plato believes that the Greek God Poseidon, the god of the sea and also one of the top 3 gods in Greek mythology, was given the island.
I also think its really interesting that Plato thought that there was a huge flood and that is why there is no longer the city Atlantis. I think this theory could be correct but a worldwide flood is a little extreme. I think the theory that Atlantis was once a continent and then flooded is more plausible than a worldwide flood, but also is still very hard to prove.
I think its quite interesting how many different theories there are about the Lost Island of Atlantis, and how different all of the theories are. I concur that Plato was just trying to explain the idea behind the perfect civilization, but many of the ways he tried to prove this are very extreme and there would be no way to prove it.

The topic of Atlantis is always something that I like to talk about, I honestly like to hear peoples opinion on the matter. There is evidence on both sides of the argument, mostly against the cities existence. I still think that it is possible

I think that you are right, #10 seems most logical behind what Plato would do to warn his citizens to not stray from God. Plato warned the people because Atlantis was supposed to be a perfect world where people would strive to be in that kind of civilization. Plato sought out t discourage the civilians. I also think that the city of Atlantis could have sank, going along with #9 and #8 I feel that this is a possible scenario. I only think this because I still hold on to the fact that the city could have actually existed. To me it seems possible for the city to be struck by natural disaster and be swept away with the great Atlantic Ocean. Or that the ice age destroyed the civilization and eventually caused the city to vanish underneath 1,000s of feet of water.
I am interested in what the other extremes are, I dont see what else they could come up with to determined what happened with the unknown city. Like I said early I would like to think that Atlantis did exist and still does exist. The perfect civilization would be an amazing sight for anyone to see. I believe that it is possible that the city is hidden somewhere in the Atlantic. The world will probably never know what truly happened to the Lost city or if it even existed